After Uriel woke up and received greetings from his friends, government agents entered and dragged him away against his will. He was starving, but the agents simply ignored him.
The entire situation was somewhat comical to the cohort, who saw that their friend hadn't changed a bit during the year and a half he was trapped in the Dream Realm.
Uriel sighed, sitting across from a government worker. From what he knew, there was a mountain of paperwork for integrating Awakened and Masters. Since he had directly become a Master, the process would be much more laborious and time-consuming. He was about to summon an apple from his [Dark Vault] before remembering he had run out of them a long time ago.
So, instead, he summoned a peach. He had plenty stored away thanks to Soul, who had devoured enormous quantities of souls throughout the cycles.
A curious thing was that although he repeated the cycles, the things he obtained from them—like Memories—did not disappear.
Of course, he had invested most of those Memories into his three creatures. This made obtaining new Memories harder; it took him nearly 500 years of repeating the same day just to reach the halfway point to ascend his three creatures, then another 1,000 to complete their ascension. Finally, it took another 3,000 years to make them Transcendent.
By the year 5,100, his mind was shattered and broken. It had completely given way, and it wasn't until recently that he truly came back to himself.
In general, his new body looked like that of a 20-year-old youth, while mentally, he was over five thousand years old.
"Lord of Darkness," the worker said, making Uriel blink.
"I'm sorry, I was lost in my thoughts," Uriel said.
The worker nodded and then said, "It's understandable that you're a bit scattered after spending so long in the Dream Realm, especially surviving in unexplored zones."
"Yes," Uriel said. "It was difficult."
The government worker began filling out her report. Uriel knew that his conversation was likely being recorded by one of the Great Clans; after all, they controlled a large part of this world's government. Such was the vastness of their influence in the Waking World.
"May I ask how you survived? If you are able to tell me, of course."
Uriel made a pensive noise that made the worker a bit nervous.
"Well, I was at the Crimson Spire, fighting against the creatures so the Sleepers could escape. In the end, only 20 remained. I told them to leave safely and that I would catch up with them..." Uriel paused, his voice turning somber. "But I couldn't make it to the end. I was badly wounded, the gateway had broken, and the tower was collapsing. Using what little strength I had left, I jumped from the top of the tower. Fortunately, I had a Memory that allowed me to fly, so I was able to save myself from death."
The worker nodded, maintaining her professionalism while continuously taking notes in her ledger.
"I returned to the Dark City. Once I recovered enough, I hunted monsters for food and water. Then, I set out to explore far beyond the Forgotten Shore. I spent months flying through the darkness until, nearly a year later, I reached an unknown region."
The worker's eyes widened. "An unknown region?"
"Yes. It was a massive desert with very dangerous creatures. I believe it was a Death Zone."
The government worker's eyes were wide open at the mention of the unknown—now known—region of the Dream Realm being a Death Zone. It was incredible that a Sleeper had done all that.
"Anything else?"
"Yes. As I mentioned, it was a Death Zone. I fought for my life many times, battling Fallen creatures of various ranks. Some Demons, Devils... perhaps some Tyrants too, though I usually escaped those by making them fight something worse. I think I also escaped a Titan or two."
The worker was in absolute shock. She stood up abruptly.
"I-I believe I am not qualified for this. Please wait a few moments; someone more qualified than I will come to continue your account," the government worker said, muttering things like "impossible" under her breath.
'Wow, looks like you're a real lady-killer now,' Shade mocked.
'Shut up. I'm leaving out massive details, and this is just the summary we prepared.'
'True, but this only guarantees that Clan Valor or Clan Song will try to snatch us up even faster.'
'True. But at the very least, they'd need to send a Saint to do it, and I doubt they'll do that,' Uriel thought, looking around with curiosity.
'And what will you say about the Nightmare?'
'I'll just mention a few things here and there and leave it at that.'
'Fair enough.'
Uriel waited nearly two minutes until another worker entered. This one looked more experienced and was an Awakened, judging by her striking beauty and physique.
Uriel could hear Shade's catcalls at the sight of the beautiful woman who sat across from him.
"Lord Uriel, I am Natasha. I will continue the interview," the woman said calmly.
"Well, a pleasure."
Uriel repeated the story.
"After a few months of doing the same thing—escaping very strong abominations—I decided it was too dangerous to keep going. So I left the desert, traveling North this time. There, I found another strange place, which I believe was another unknown region."
Natasha's eyes widened; her reaction was the same as her colleague's.
"What was this unknown region like?"
"It was... wrong. It was a forest zone with titanic trees as large as the tallest buildings, but those were only their stumps," Uriel explained.
The worker couldn't mentally grasp something so gigantically titanic.
"Now that I remember, it was a Death Zone almost as dangerous as the desert."
"Almost?"
"Yes. The creatures that inhabited it..." Uriel shuddered visibly. "I-I believe they were of the Great rank."
Natasha's eyes grew as wide as saucers.
Creatures of the Great rank were so powerful that a single one could wipe out a large part of North America, and it would take at least several Saints to kill one. The idea that there was a place where all the beasts were of the Great rank was simply inconceivable. Until now, the most powerful creature humanity had faced was the Nightmare Chain in the United States, where a Category Five gate opened, birthing a Cursed Terror that devastated the continent and made its recovery impossible.
"How did you manage to leave that place?"
"My Aspect is good for hiding in shadows. So, my progress was slow for a while.
Eventually, I reached a Citadel where there was a Nightmare Seed, which I challenged."
Natasha composed herself, writing down the information in her report for several minutes.
"What happened in your Nightmare?"
"It's a bit strange to explain, and I don't remember much."
Natasha nodded. "Do you remember the average rank of the creatures?"
"They were Beasts, Monsters, Demons, Devils, Tyrants, and Titans. And most of them were at least of the Corrupted rank."
Natasha stood up.
"I don't think I am qualified for this. In a few minutes, a more qualified colleague will come." Natasha left the room.
Shade was howling with laughter at the reactions of the interviewers, who went from professional to utterly stunned and pale. 'Damn, this is top-tier comedy,' Shade laughed.
Uriel let out a sigh.
In the end, he had to repeat the same story at least six or seven times.